Tattoos, Superman, and YOU!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m planning on getting a tattoo late summer/early fall, hopefully. It’s kind a big decision, so I don’t have a date set.

I plan on getting a Superman shield on my upper left arm, right where the tricep and bicep hit the shoulder, the classic symbol, yellow and red. I also kinda want to include blue in it, too, possibly as a blue band around my arm.

I want it to be about two inches wide and one inch tall.

How bright can I expect the colors to be? How much will it cost? Can I pay extra to have 'em really ‘ink it up’ or something so the colors are really bright? If I work out alot and build up my arm, will it get all stretched and wierd looking? Should I take in pictures to show off, or will they know what I want? How much will it REALLY hurt? Lots? I have a great pain tolerance, I just want to know what I’m in for…

I think I’ll get it done at Arazumi’s Body Art (a well known local place), but if anyone lives in, has lived in, or has been tatty’d in Kansas City and knows a better place, please let me know!

Help, please!

–Tim

2

Wow! What a coincidence, I have a friend that did exactly that just last month. It looks good, the yellow is very vibrant, you don’t have to worry about the colors not being bright enough. This was my friend’s first tattoo, and he actually passed out in the middle of it (be sure to eat something before you go, he hadn’t eaten anything all day and I’m sure that’s what caused him to pass out). The artist doing the work said that probably about half of his customers pass out on their first time… but after they come to, they don’t have any problems.

His was the same size as you’re saying… he took the drawing directly off of his hat, and it cost him 100$. I don’t know much about the ink parlors in KC, but one of the ones in Columbia has a retired Dr. that works there… I think it’s either “Tattoo You” or “Dream Catchers”. That’s something that would probably make me feel better, but that’s probably not worth a 100 mile trip, eh?

You should bring in a picture, just to be absolutely sure.

-dook

3

Anyone that says getting a tattoo doesn’t hurt is full of shit. From what I understand though, the level of pain varies quite a bit depending on where on your body you get it. I got mine on my lower back. Talk about PAINFUL!!! There’s not to much muscle back there and when he was going over my spine I thought I was going to puke. The outline hurt the worst, and when he started the shading, it was still painful, but bearable. The upper arm is fairly muscular so I don’t think it will hurt as much for you, but it will hurt nonetheless.

As far as the ink fading. I think that the ink they use today is far superior to the ink they used in the past. It doesn’t fade as much as it used to. A lot of tattoo parlors offer free touch-ups so when it starts to fade you can go in and have them brighten it up. I’d ask about that.

4

Wiggum, you’re just a wus. :smiley:
jk, i believe the pain is up to the tolerance of the one getting the tattoo. I have several. the ones on my shoulders didn’t hurt at all, the huge spider on my left shoulder actually tickled. The rams horns on my spine on my back didn’t hurt at all, actually felt quite soothing. the Japanese “spider” on my lower back didn’t hurt, but that one tickled too. I’m very ticklish.
as far as colors go, the inks used nowadays seem to last a long time. My left shoulder still looks good, and i’ve never gotten it touched up, the colors on my lower back are still pretty vibrant, and all my tattoos are anywhere from 4-8 years old.

5

Homer, I have one suggestion before you commit yourself to this. A tatoo is permanent, you’ll have it forever.

Ask yourself: if you had got a tatoo five years ago, what would it have been? Are your tastes the same? Would you still today think that five-year ago idea was so terrific? Would you be really embarrassed or really annoyed at having that on you?

Now ask yourself: to what extent will your tastes change in the next five years? A Superman logo seems cool now, but will it still be in five years? in ten?

There’s an old joke about a sailor with a heart tatooed on his chest, that says Mary Lou under it…that name has a line through it and it says Betty Sue, and that’s scratcehd off and it says Emily, and…

6

I’m with Wiggum - mine hurt a LOT. However, I got mine over bone, not muscle, so that may account for it. (Mine’s also about 8 inches high and took two hours…by the end, I just wanted to be out of the damn chair.) However, I’m proud to say that even though it was my first tat, I didn’t pass out, and I didn’t cry. A lot depends on the artist you get, I think…mine was really good, and really nice about everything. Of course, a lot also depends on your pain tolerance too. In other words, yeah it’ll hurt, but who knows how much. (Yeah, I know - real helpful, right?)

I’d also recommend bringing in a picture if you have one that’s EXACTLY what you want. They can take that and transfer it to a pattern for you - IMO, it’s the safest way to make sure you get the design you want.

I’d ask about it stretching when you go in. I’ve lost about 20 pounds since I got mine, and am planning on losing more. Mine hasn’t stretched out, and the tattoo artist told me it shouldn’t. Of course, mine’s on my shoulder blade - the arm might be different.

And finally, I’d second CK’s advice. If you really want to get this, decide on it, then wait 6 months. If you still want it, then go ahead. I knew I wanted to get mine for about a year and a half, and I’m really happy with it.

And of course, time to show mine off: http://www.angelfire.com/md2/araerie/graphics/Hawk/tattoo.jpg :wink:

7

soulsling,

You must be one tough sumbitch. My tolerence for pain must be very low. I’ve never like needles and the thought of a needle piercing my skin thousands of times probably heightened the experience of the pain. The fact that I had to sit through this pain for two hours didn’t help either.

8

OK, Homer, you have guys telling you it tickles, then people say they pass out, some say it hurt A LOT.

Let me help you. I have 6 tattoos. If it was so God-awful painful, I would’ve stopped at 1. The best way I can described it is that it feels like a cat scratch or when you skin your knee. It also hurts worse depending on the placement of the tattoo.

The teo on my calves, the ones on my shoulder, shoulder blade and chest weren’t that bad at all, but I got one wrapping completely around my wrist, and I don’t mind saying it hurt like hell on the underside of my wrist, where there’s no muscle to pad the needles.

Where you are thinking of getting a tattoo shouldn’t hurt too bad, so don’t get too freaked out by the horror stories. Keep in mind though, it IS forever, make sure that’s what you want on your body for the rest of your life. Tattoos can be removed through surgery, but it is more expensive and more painful than having it done in the first place.

9

My tattoo didn’t hurt until he got on the sunburned part of my arm. I have a complete band that goes all the way around also. It tickled some when they were doing the underside of my arm though. I suppose when I go back to have the top recoloured now that I am no longer sunburned that it won’t hurt there either. For the record, I pierced my septum (myself) as well as many other places and that one hurt like hell. It was the only piercing that actually made my eyes water.

HUGS!
Sqrl

10

Mine (which is in the same location as your planned tattoo) only hurt for a few minutes; after that, it was just kind of a buzzing feeling and a slight awareness of heat. Your body adapts quickly to small pains like that. Getting tattoos over fleshy parts of your body (like arms) tend to hurt less than tats on bonier parts (like ankles).

A great place for information is the FAQ for the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.bodyart, which can be found in the RTFM archive at MIT. Read all parts of the FAQ thoroughly, understand what you’re doing, and ponder the tattoo for a good long while to ensure that it’s what you want to do. I thought about mine for around six months before I had it done.

Another thing: there’s a new Superman logo for the upcoming Superman movie that you might want to consider as an alternate. I think it’s pretty nifty.

“Come, son of Jor-El, kneel before Zod!”

11

Please, PLEASE remember a tattoo is permanent before you do this, huh?

I bring this up because of the way they’ve been messing around with poor 'Sup. As I recall in the past year or so they’ve killed him, split him into red and blue versions (with really fruity costumes), turned him into a solid metal version, and frittered around with his abilities.

All I’m saying is that it’d be really embarrasing to have the writers decide to have Superman dump Lois, come out of the closet and introduce Jimmy Olsen to the “Man 'O Steel” while your ink’s drying.

Besides, did I ever mention my high school friend Lance and his “Poison” tattoo…?

12

I have been tatooed 5 times, in three places. I got the first at 24, after thinking it over for a year. (I second, or third, or whatever the count is up to, thinking very seriously about this before you make the lifetime commitment.) It is on my lower back, on the left hand side. I went in there expecting oh-my-god excruciating pain (don’t even ask why I did it anyway :)) based on an account my ex-husband had given me of his experience. He had a unicorn on his bicep, blue outline only, about two inches high.

There I was, lying face down in a dentist’s chair. I was gripping the upholstery so hard I put one of my fingernails through it. I was sweating. I was shaking. This, of course, was all before they started. I was remembering my ex’s accounts of having endured the intense pain, heroically. When the needle finally did hit my skin, I looked at the artist in the mirror and said, “That’s it?”

Now, it did hurt. But not much. Not enough to brag about. (My ex is a wuss.) Not enough to prevent me from doing it again.

In my experience: The first, outside lower back, only really hurt on the retouching - where they went back over the areas that didn’t get enough ink the first time. It is solid black. The outliner stung, the shader just felt like an electric razor pressing really hard.

The second added to that one and kind of goes around it. Whenever they got really close to the spine, it hurt more.

The third is on the back of my shoulder. Again, outlining stung a little, shading did not hurt, except retouching, which stung less than outlining. The fourth added to that one.

The fifth hurt like hell. I think there are two reasons for this. One, it’s around my wrist. Far less muscle tissue. As BratMan said, the underside of the wrist is very sensitive, and thus very painful. Second, I think the fact that I could actually see what they were doing, not the case for any of the previous ones, made it worse. I could see the needles, and I could see the blood. I’m not squeamish, but I think it was a heightened awareness of what they were doing. And with me there was quite a lot of bleeding.

Hope this helps… :slight_smile: And by the way, the only regret I have is that the person who did my second was not skillful enough to portray what I was going for. Make sure your artist is good at what he/she does. Look at examples (photos) of past work, not just drawings. And definitely bring a picture of what you want if you can.

13

Homer, I have two and neither of them hurt. One on my shoulder and the other on my lower back.
My brother-in-law went with me for my first one and sat on the edge of the chair telling me that it was a pain worse than death. Now this is a man who is covered in ink some in house and some professional.
When they guy started I was so tense and I guess I looked terrified. I said is that it? No problem.
I am thinking of getting another but have no idea where. Won’t high-jack your thread for this.

Cristi had a thread about getting her tattoo and someone came up with some good advice about taking a picture of what you want and putting it up on your fridge for a month or so (I think it was actually longer) and if you don’t get sick of looking at it go for it!
Let us know how it goes!

14

It’s a permanent decision. Think long and hard. I have three. They hurt, but they were bearable. I wish I never got the one on my back, it makes dressing for formal affairs a bit tedious, as I tend to try to keep it covered.

15

Add my name to the list of people who says it doesn’t hurt that much. But it certainly varies by person, and some artists press too hard, there is a skill factor involved.

(My SO has been known to fall asleep while getting inked.)

As for color, you don’t need to worry about the initial color, it should be plenty bright and clear. But you will want to make sure you take proper care of it. Sunlight will fade the tattoo. You will want to be really anal about putting sunblock on it whenever you are going to have it exposed. And get it touched up every once in a while.

There is a nine part Tattooing FAQ (of which my SO is a former editor of) available here.

16

As everyone has said, make sure you are sure you want that tattoo forever. I have two, the one on my arm felt like a cat scratch, but the one on my calf felt like someone was pinching the skin back there hard. I didn’t need a break during that one (took an hour), but then again I have a fairly high pain tolerance.

The free touchups are nice, and most tattooists offer them. I need to go back to get mine checked, btw. I was supposed to get it checked two weeks after, but life got in the way and well, here we are about 6 months later. I hope the tattooist will check it, since it needs some spots touched up a bit (some spots didnt take the ink as well as others. They are the little stretch marks on the top of my calf. It’s not noticable unless youre pretty close to it).

Also, make sure you follow your tattooists directions for care. I’ve never had a problem with either of the directions I followed for both of mine, and both are still good looking (surprisingly, the second, my largest didnt even scab at all, despite being somewhat bloody).

17

Take a look at this before you get a tatoo:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/26/fringe/tattoo.update/tattoo.jpg

Made me think twice. Of course, you may want to be known as “Bizarro Superman”.

18

Tattoos fade. The colors change and they get blurry. You want a burn. They fade too, but don’t look like shit doing it. Use the pencil irons, not the guns. And for pete’s sake have someone who can drive if you get into trouble and need attention right away.

19

Tatts feel kinda like a bee sting sometimes…feel like nothing else other times.

Tattoo ink fades out more on some people. I love my tatts, but I think I’m allergic to the ink(it breaks out occasionally and itches like a mother), and it tends to fade. I have 3 so far, and I’ve got one more to go.

GO for the tatt!

Oh, and I have one tattoo I might rethink if I had it to do over again…C’est la vie!

-Sam

20

Okay, I don’t think the pain will be a problem. I have a HUGE pain tolerance.

I don’t think Superman will ever be gay. But he may have a gay friend or something at some point.

Ever since I was a kid, I have idolized Superman. I collected every single comic with Superman in it from 1993 till 1997. I’ve planned on this for about two years. I don’t think I’ll regret having this tattoo in five years, or even fifty.

The ‘new’ Superman symbol is nice. So is the electric one. So is the ‘healing suit’ one. So is the Crisis one. There’s dozens of types out there, but I like the original, except stretched by width about 1/4 to 1/2. Original it will be.

Thanks so much for all the feedback.

–Tim